Given the surging volume of personal health information (PHI) and other sensitive data from electronic health records, medical imaging, payer records, and medical devices, healthcare organizations are arguably in the data business today as much as they’re in the business of caring for patients. Data not only helps healthcare organizations deliver better patient care, but it’s a core asset to meet other business imperatives, including streamlining processes and lowering costs.Healthcare
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Why It’s Time to Take a More Adult Approach to Healthcare Policy
One of President Harry Truman’s most famous quotes was “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” Yet historically, the political approach to healthcare has been less like colleagues working toward an intelligent, practical solution and more like two children fighting over a favorite toy. Both sides wanted the credit for delivering a comprehensive healthcare plan and policy themselves, so they did all they could to prevent the other side from winning. Even
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Do You Make House Calls? How Connected Health is Extending Personalized Care
People of a certain age speak wistfully of a time when doctors made house calls. The in-home visit had advantages for patient and physician alike.“House calls” eliminated the need for ill patients to get to the doctor’s office—along with the risks of coming into contact with other health-compromised people. For doctors, it was a break in routine, an opportunity to observe patients in their own home environment—and, sometimes, to gain insight beyond what was possible during an office exam,
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Alert Fatigue: A Smarter Approach to Clinical Alarm Management
Thinking back to my time as a nurse on a busy telemetry unit, I can tell you how most days began. Clock in by 6:55 a.m. and throw my lunch in the fridge. Then, I check the assignment board, see who is in charge and how many patients I have. Next, I had to find the nurses who will report on my four to six patients, which usually includes a quick synopsis of any pertinent issues and the plan for the day.This sounds relatively easy. However, I am trying to accomplish these modest but critical goals
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Clinical Secure Texting: Optimizing Care Coordination in Hospice Care
Playing phone tag and leaving voice mail is painfully inefficient. Thankfully, most of us can rely on e-mail and text messages to communicate with one another both personally and in business. In healthcare though, especially when at-risk hospice patients are involved, phone tag with a clinician is not only frustrating, but it can have life-threatening consequences.Consider this real-life scenario: Sue, a hospice nurse, went to check on Flo, a terminally ill cancer patient. Upon the initial
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Patients are the New Payer: The New Dynamics of the Healthcare Economy
As consumers, we can use our smartphones to buy everything from airline tickets to groceries. In both cases, the products are delivered or confirmed almost immediately. Many of us instantly compare prices to see if we’re getting a good deal.This type of purchasing is not as seamless in healthcare. It can often be difficult to determine the exact cost of care prior to a procedure being done. There isn’t an easy way to compare the cost of medical procedures between healthcare organizations — which
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How to Get Ahead of Mobile Device Security Risks in 2019
Healthcare data breach news dominated headlines again in 2018. A November 2018 Data Breach report posted by the HIPAA Journal cites a massive increase in exposed protected health information (PHI). During the month of November, more than 3 million records were exposed, stolen or accessed without permission. The report states the number of records exposed in November alone is greater than those exposed in all 180 data breaches reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) during the first
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How Improving Primary Care Can Drive Innovation in Care Delivery
Despite having some of the most advanced healthcare tools and highly-trained practitioners, the United States has one of the least efficient healthcare systems of all developed countries.Over the years, I have come to realize that it’s not the development of devices or the medical prowess that makes the difference: it is the delivery of these services and the impact it creates on the population. Moreover, it is our delivery of care to patients which is often inefficient and ineffective, leaving
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Facing the Revenue Cycle’s Biggest Challenges in 2019
Hospital revenue cycle departments have gained greater visibility in recent years as a significant driver of revenue streams. Yet many of these departments continue to face serious challenges in several areas, including workforce, interoperability, and EHR optimization.Taking revenue cycle management to the next level by harnessing technology and data analytics can help hospitals and health systems track costs and identify opportunities for cost savings, gain efficiencies, and optimize financial
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Practices: Focus More on Patient Relationships and Less on Management
Patient relationship management (PRM) software is taking center stage in the battle to improve the patient experience. Essentially, PRM is customer relationship management (CRM) for healthcare. It helps practices more effectively communicate with and engage patients and tracks those interactions. For example, if a practice needs to improve reminders and recall, PRM can automate sending messages via text, email, and/or phone by pulling data from the practice management or EHR system.Even though
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